I don't know if I'd call it "yesterday's news," but NoVA is certainly going to stagnate if it doesn't get the regional autonomy to implement its own growth solutions. There's too much jurisdictional bickering and too many bureaucratic obstacles--at both the state and Federal levels--for NoVA to wield much power over its own destiny. NoVA has many of the problems of a big city, but none of the tools available to big cities to solve its problems. There's no unified vision for the region, very little commitment to cooperation (unless you count the Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority as commitment), and very little of the political fortitude that is required for dramatic change. Which is a shame, because without dramatic change, either in the relationship between NoVA and Richmond, or in the political makeup of Richmond (tilting it heavily toward NoVA issues), the region will certainly starve, and growth will stop. And frankly, after the past month or so, I'm not optimistic.

If NOVA stagnates because of lack of investment in necessary infrastructure, it will eventually become "yesterday's news."  That would be very unfortunate, especially since it's totally avoidable -- but ONLY if we act soon to deal with the situation.  Right now, I simply don't see the leadership, particularly in the House of Delegates, to get that done.

Now that you NOVA-ites have effectively mopped-up the obstructionist, kneejerk, anti-government Republican delegates in your own back yard...send lawyers, guns and money out to your country cousins so that we can finish the job in the House of Delegates.  Let's have a 100 district plan to take the House.

And tell Governor Kaine to pick up the phone and call us.  That boy is missing in action (or Richmond). We could use a little more love (and star-power).  

I love this idea. We should definitely put together some kind of "100 District Plan" for 2009.

With redistricting coming in 2010, we could use a majority in the Assembly to go along with our majority in the Senate. A lot of the problems identified in the post and comments are derivative of the way the districts are setup. The population has shifted since 2000. I suspect some of these problems are fixable with a reallocation and redistricting after 2010, and we may have to just wait given the results of the past few weeks.

Forgive me for my libertarian notion on this but we should stop looking to Washington to solve our transportation concerns and we should also resolve to get comitted over the next fifty years to not depending on Richmond for funding, that inevitably will not be there, afterall the lions share of what is there will certainly go to NoVA and the Beach but it will not be enough to solve the problems mismanagement has brought to bear on the situation of the current infrastructure.
The connection between impact fees, cash proffers, transportation authorities and community developments needs to be tied somehow togther by one of our leaders who can actually make the mess cohenrent in terms of the big picture.
Localities will have to bear the burden of solving what transportation issues they can through local revenue genration, yes taxes I am afraid. I would rather have my proerty taxes rise if I knew that 5 cents of that increase was dedictated solely to transportation. Richmond is seeking to make themselves the bank as it will for funding at the same time when not having enough to spread around to make the impact required which is why it was so interesting to have bills such as impact fee and the ending of cash proffers reach the floor.
If the State had the resources thats one thing, but since it does not in this environment why would they attempt to hamstring the local governments from being able to not only hit the developers up for their share but also hit the tax payer up for his. I live in a county where it is an 80/20 split (resident to developer) in terms of the share of the burden. We can do better if we collectively resolve to do so.

Localities already bare a heavy burden.  Residents here already pay state taxes, among them: sales tax, income tax, various excise taxes, and a special Motor Fuels Tax applicable only to NoVA and Hampton Roads.  And our localities pick up the lion's share of costs for public schools.  You can layer this on top of residents, but then why do we need to be a part of Virginia?  

On the localities picking up the tab, the state would need to delegate the authority to manage state roads, highways and right-of-ways to the localities.  Because of the Dillon Rule, localities need to play a game of Mother-May-I with the General Assembly before they can do much of anything.  And then you still have to have the counties coordinate their transportation plans, else you have a mess.  And then how do you ensure that every county pays their fair share into the transportation plan.

Is it not the option for all Counties to opt out of State funding like Henrico County in Richmond and budget accordingly instead of waiting and blaming Richmond for it woes in terms of roads.